Siemens to build high-floor light rail vehicles for Calgary

Calgary Transit has placed an order with Siemens Canada for 60 high-floor light rail vehicles (LRV) to replace the city’s ageing fleet of U2 trams.

The first S200 model LRV will arrive in Calgary in less than two years time, replacing a section of the existing fleet that first began service in the city 30 years ago.

Calgary’s light rail network, known as the C-Train, has an average daily ridership of around 300,000 passengers, making it the busiest system in North America and one of the world’s best-used networks.

With average winter temperatures dipping to around -15 degrees celsius in Calgary, the S200 has been specially designed with electric floor heating, thick thermal insulation, triple-pane side windows and a forced air heating and cooling system.

The new vehicles, which will all be delivered by December 2016, will feature a wireless system for transmitting live diagnostic data.

Robert Hardt, president and chief executive of Siemens Canada, said: “We’d like to thank the City of Calgary for its continued trust in Siemens.

” We’ve been a proud supplier to Calgary Transit for more than 30 years and are fortunate to use what we have learned in that time to design these vehicles specifically for the needs of this modern and growing city moving forward.”

Siemens has released three design concepts for the S200 – The Mask, The Bow and The Buffalo – and Calgarians will be asked to vote for their favourite.